Information about cloud-to-ground lightning strikes is important for a variety of safety and research reasons. For example, it is known that intense downdrafts or microbursts follow lightning-producing updrafts. Precise knowledge of lightning strikes, accordingly, can serve as a predictor for the locations of possible microbursts. This type of information, for example, would provide safer air traffic control in order to protect planes from such microbursts. Lightning strike information is typically generated using lightning detection systems that use magnetic field sensors to detect a radiation component or an induction component of a lightning strike.
In terms of scientific research, any additional knowledge about a lightning strike could prove beneficial in existing or future applications requiring knowledge about severe weather conditions.